Distance of the Longest Driven Golf Ball

"A golf ball leaves a club with an initial velocity of 40.0 meters per second at an angle of 40 degrees with the horizontal. What is the total horizontal distance traveled by the golf ball during the first 2.50 seconds of its flight?"

"On September 25, 1974, Austin, then sixty-four, unleashed all hell on the ball, sending it 515 yards before it finally came to rest-sixty five yards beyond the flagstick on the par-four fifth hole. Thirty years later, it's still the longest drive ever."

"The greatest recorded carry of a golf ball is 418.78 m (458 yards), by America's Jack Hamm, at Highlands Ranch, Colorado, USA, on July 20, 1993."

418.78 m

The game of golf is said to be very relaxing. Anyone can play the game, young, old, and mainly rich people. What's great is that both men and woman can make the game of golf their profession. My dad who started playing golf for the past several years used to think golf was boring; but once he started playing he loved it. He taught me a few basics such as putting. Putting may seem easy, but to be honest, it is difficult. You need to line the club and ball up to where you are aiming to hit the ball. You also need to know what type of club is used for each situation you might find yourself in. In golf there are golf clubs made for right handed and left handed people.

If you want to go down in history as the golfer with the longest distance driven by a golf ball you need to have the perfect technique. A correct swing requires appropriate hand and body coordination. The grip is very important. In planning a shot, the golfer should consider weather factors such as wind direction and velocity. The game of golf is played on open green grass called a golf course. Most golf courses consist of eighteen holes, but some have nine. Golf has many different types of equipment such as golf clubs, golf balls, golf shoes, golf bags, and many others. As of now Paul Slater holds the record for the longest distance, 470.9 meters.

"On Sept. 25, 1974, [Mike] Austin was playing in the US National Seniors Open Championship at the Winterwood Golf Course in Las Vegas, a course since renamed Desert Rose. Austin drew back and unleashed a blast that flew more than 400 yards, bounced in front of the green and came to rest 65 yards beyond the flag-stick. That shot set the Guinness world record as the longest drive ever recorded in a PGA tournament: 515 yards."

"In 1980, for example, the leader in driving distance on the Professional Golfers of America (PGA) Tour was Dan Pohl, who averaged 274.1 yards."

250.6 m

The game of golf is a very cherished sport by many, mostly by old rich guys, but that's not important. It's said to be very relaxing, but throughout all that I read looking for information, it seems that it is very frustrating. All this talk about getting over 100-90-80 feet, and perfecting your stroke, and swinging while watching the ball with your dominant eye (which I actually tried. You make a circle with your index and thumb fingers and look through it at something with both eyes. Close one at a time and the eye that can still see the object is your dominant eye; mine is my left.), all seems too complicated for my taste. I was looking for the distance of the longest driven golf ball, and i found it.

Well, golf is obviously the sport of many but is the talent of few. My research has brought it down to few who have made Golf Digest's cover page, and who have been in the Guinness World Records. Back in 1980, a man named Dan Pohl was the leader in driving distance in the PGA (Professional Golfers of America), and his average driving distance was approximately 251 meters. In the Guinness World Record, the shot that was recorded as the overall longest drive in a PGA tournament was measured in at 471 meters. Jason Zuback is the holder of the longest drive ever in the RE/MAX Champs at about 377 meters. The greatest recorded overall carry is recorded as about 419 meters.

"On September 25, 1990, Kelly Murray set a Guinness World Record by hitting a golf ball 684.8 yards on the 30-yard wide airstrip at Fairmont Hot Springs, British Columbia, besting the previous record by 50.7 yards."

626.2 m

In achieving greater distance and accuracy wile hitting a golf ball there are many factors that come into play, including choice of golf clubs, dimples on a golf ball, the spin on the ball, and ones golf swing, which is the action in which one hit's the golf ball with the golf club.

The dimples and back spin of a ball generate the power necessary to lift a golf ball in to the air and also plays a huge role in the amount of distance the ball travels, if there is an adequate amount of back spin the ball will travel a great distance, if there is too much back spin the ball will stop short, and if there is little back spin the ball will veer of course, and not be accurate.

The most important aspect in attaining distance with a golf ball is one's golf swing. Dynamic weight transfer is a key element in one's golf swing, this allows for the swing to produce power and have accuracy. Weight trans is the motion of ones weight from side to side, while dynamic weight transfer is the synchronizing of the angles of one's lower and upper body while rotating the hips and shifting one's weight from side to side creating one fluid rotational movement, in order to gain the most torque in one's golf swing.

A golf course contains a mixture of par 3, par 4, and par 5 holes. A typical par 3 hole measures up to 250 yards (229 meters), a par 4 from 251 to 470 yards (230 to 430 meters), and a par 5 measures at least 471 yards (431 meters).According to the Guinness Book of World Records the current record distance for a driven golf ball is 458 yards (418 meters) by Jack Hamm in 1993, which is about the distance of a par 4 fairway.